[6, 7] bragðvíss ósvífrandi ása ‘the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods [= Þjazi]’: Both Holtsmark (1949, 23-4) and Marold (1983, 159-60) consider this kenning refers to Loki, not Þjazi, the latter on the ground that, as Loki was instructed to carve the ox in the first helmingr, he should be the expected subject of the second, which describes the division of the beast. This argument is not supported by the narrative of Skm (see Note to [All] above). The cpd ósvífrandi is related etymologically to the strong verb svífa ‘swing, float, hover’; cf. the adj. ósvífr ‘unyielding, bold’ (AEW: svífa).
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- Marold, Edith. 1983. Kenningkunst: Ein Beitrag zu einer Poetik der Skaldendichtung. Quellen und Forschungen zur Sprach- und Kulturgeschichte der germanischen Völker, new ser. 80. Berlin: de Gruyter.
- Holtsmark, Anne. 1949. ‘Myten om Idun og Tjatse i Tjodolvs Haustlǫng’. ANF 64, 1-73.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 10 May 2024)